1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and method for automatically determining vehicle odometer discrepancies and, in particular, odometer rollback. The present invention is specifically directed to such a system and method in which the likelihood of a rollback is determined.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers and automotive professionals involved in the trading of used vehicles recognize the importance of information relating to a used vehicle's history in making a purchasing decision including placing a value on a particular vehicle. Consequently, services have been created that function primarily to provide vehicle history information to various parties in the used vehicle market, including dealers and individual consumers. A web site is typically provided which permits a potential buyer of a vehicle to purchase a vehicle history report containing an extensive collection of information on a particular vehicle. For example, the vehicle history report may include such vehicle information as model year, odometer readings and discrepancies, ownership records, accident information, the existence of salvage and/or flood titles, and maintenance records, such information being typically presented as a series of vehicle history records in a vehicle history report.
Automobile buyers and sellers in the resale market consider the number of miles or kilometers a vehicle has been driven to be, for many purposes, a valuable element of historical information. For example, CARFAX, Inc., the assignee of the present application, provides a vehicle history information system that generates vehicle history reports (which may be generated by the method and system originally described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,144, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference), and presents the user with odometer readings for a particular vehicle in its database. This feature permits the system to alert a user to odometer discrepancies as “odometer rollbacks”.
As part of its vehicle history service, CARFAX reports potential odometer rollbacks to its customers. Rollbacks are a form of fraud whereby a person lowers the mileage or kilometers displayed by the odometer of a vehicle using a tool or software. By doing so, the person artificially and fraudulently increases the value of a vehicle. Rollbacks are detected and reported by CARFAX in its vehicle history reports by comparing two chronologically sequential odometer readings present in respective vehicle history records. The first mileage reading should always be equal to, or lower than, the second odometer reading. If the first odometer reading is higher than the second odometer reading, the odometer of the vehicle may have been tampered with and roll backed.